• Voto:
Siamo in un 1981 in cui la new wave sembra aver esaurito il propellente più avanguardista e innovativo dei primi anni e si lascia contaminare dalle spinte retroattive che riportano in auge antichi sapori, sia di qua che di là dell'Atlantico.
Dopo un'interessante ma ancora un po' acerbo Crocodiles, McCulloch e soci sembrano aver perfezionato la ricetta della cosiddetta neopsichedelia, grazie ad una più mirata miscela di certe spezie antiche e urgenze moderniste...
Un suono, quello di Heaven Up Here, che ad un primo ascolto richiama alla memoria molti illustri nomi.
Nei momenti più impetuosi la ritmica spigolosa e le chitarre ricordano U2 e Gang Of Four, mentre nelle situazioni più ipnotiche si possono intravedere i fantasmi dei Doors più ombrosi, dei Cure più tenui, e qualche svolazzo epico preso in prestito dai migliori Simple Minds (oltre alle ovvie somiglianze con i compagni di banco The Teardrop Explodes).
Ma ben presto la sensazione di iniziale "già sentito" lascia il posto all'incanto di atmosfere tanto crepuscolari e sfuggenti da far dimenticare presto qualsiasi gioco di facile attribuzione.
Le linee melodiche mai ovvie della voce di McCulloch, le chitarre ora delicatamente arpeggiate, ora più rabbiose e distorte, e gli intrecci delle tastiere di inconfondibile gusto post-punk compongono un panorama sonoro visionario e notturno e che non rimane mai uguale, nemmeno all'interno della stessa canzone.
Arrangiamenti complessi e stratificati dunque, e canzoni continuamente cangianti (particolare menzione per il trittico iniziale), che ad ogni successivo ascolto si impreziosiscono di nuovi spessori e rivelano via via particolari quasi subliminali, grazie all'eccellente lavoro di produzione di Hugh Jones.
Per questo album l'aggettivo "classico" una volta tanto non fa storcere la bocca, e peccato che non si possa trovare altrettanto magico equilibrio fra così diversi elementi nel successivo Porcupine, già sbilanciato verso un pop sempre più sovrarrangiato, magniloquente e meno ispirato, dal quale i Nostri purtroppo non sapranno più uscire.
Elenco tracce testi e samples
01 Show of Strength (04:51)
Realistically
It's hard to dig it all too happily
But I can see
It's not always that real to me
A funny thing
Is always a funny thing
Though sadly things
Just get in the way
Open to suggestion
Falling over questions
Hopefully
But that's as well as maybe
A shaking hand
Won't transmit all fidelity
Your golden smile
Would shame a politician
Typically
I'll apologise next time
Bonds will break and fade
Go snapping all in two
The lies that bind the tie
Come sailing out of you
Realistically,
Hard to dig it all too happily
But I can see,
Not always that real to me
A funny thing
Is always a funny thing
And those sadly things
Is always a sadly thing
Bonds will break and fade
A snapping all in two
The lies that bind the tie
Come sailing out of you
A show of strength
Is all you want
You can never set it down...
Guts and passion
Those things you can't
Even set down
All those things you think might count
You can't ever set them down
Don't ever set them down
Never set them down
Hey, I came in right on cue
One is me and one is you...
Hey, I came in right on cue
One is me and one is you...
02 With a Hip (03:14)
Halt halt halt halt
Nobody's allowed
Strictly verboten
Out out out out
Bounds, of course we know no bounds
Until, at least, and then
Trespass all the way down
We've got it and I want some
I can handle it, and I want some
Relax, feel the pleasure inside
Error in trial, collide collide
You won't listen
I don't expect you to
We've lost
And something's all we can do
With a hip hip hop and a flip flap flop
Gonna steal some bananas from the grocer's shop
With your head in the clouds
And your trousers undone
Gonna shit on the carpet
Just like everyone
This is the one for the money
This is the one for the trees
This is the one called heaven
And this is the one for me
You've yet to discover
discover the difference
The difference between moral and mortal
They've got it and I have some
I couldn't handle it but I have some
Hold it in the light
And see right through it
For god's sake make a decision
Take it for a walk
And hold it hold it
Pin it on the wall and fasten onto
Move to the back
And oh yes oh yes
Do what must be done
And don't say maybe
This is the one for the money
This is the one for the trees
This is the one called heaven
And this is the one for me
03 Over the Wall (05:59)
The man at the back has a question
His tongue's involved with solutions
But the monkey on my back
Won't stop laughing
Over the wall
Hand in hand
Over the wall
Watch us fall
There's something to be said for you
And your hopes of higher ruling
But the slug on my neck
Won't stop chewing
Over the wall
Hand in hand
Over the wall
Watch us fall
I'm walking in the rain
To end this misery
I'm walking in the rain
To celebrate this misery
What's that you say?
Speak up, I can't hear you
What do you say?
I couldn't hear you
Over the wall
Hand in hand
Over the wall
Watch us fall
Out on the road coast to coast
Out on the road coast to coast
I'm over the wall
I'm over the wall
I'm over the wall
Come over the wall
Come over the wall
I can't sleep at night
How I wish you'd hold me tight
I can't sleep at night
Come on and hold me tight...
I can't sleep at night
How I wish you'd hold me tight
Come on and hold me tight
I can't sleep at night
How I wish you'd hold me tight
Come on and hold me tight
Come on and hold me tight
I can't sleep at night
How I wish you'd hold me tight
Hold me tight
Hold me tight
Hold me tight
To my logical limit
To the logical limit
To my logical limit
To the logical limit
04 It Was a Pleasure (03:15)
Let's get rid of the shit
I know you like that, too
The stuff that undermines
The best of me and you
It was a pleasure to meet you
You slapped me right on the back
Just a pleasure to meet you
You got it almost exact
No discussion now
No bad dreams now
No reason now
No excuses now
If I knock it all back
Just like you said I do
Would it confirm the suspect?
The suspicion will do
It was a pleasure to meet you
You slapped me right on the back
Just a pleasure to meet you
You got it almost exact
No discussion now
No allusion now
No dilution now
No excuses now
Let's get rid of the shit
I know you like that, too
The stuff that undermines
The best of me and you
Failure to do so will result in the failure
Failure to do so will result in the failure
05 A Promise (04:06)
You said something will change
We were all dressed up
Somewhere to go
No sign of rain
But something will change
You promised
You said nothing will change
We were almost near
Almost far
Down came the rain
But nothing will change
You promised
A promise
A promise
A promise
It's exactly the same
You said
It's always the same
But I'll make it change
Into something the same
I promise
A promise
A promise
A promise
Light on the waves
Light on the waves
Light on the waves
Light on the waves
A promise
A promise
A promise
A promise
(light on the water)
(we could sail on forever) a promise
A promise
(there's light on the water)
(we could sail on forever) a promise
(there's light on the water) a promise
(there's light on the water) a promise
(we could sail on forever) a promise
(there's light on the water) a promise
(there's light on the water) a promise
(we could sail on forever)
06 Heaven Up Here (03:45)
Ohh...Where are you now
I'm over here
We've got those empty pockets
And we can't afford the beer
We're smoking holes and we've got only dreams
And we're so damn drunk we can't see the stairs
The apple cart upset my head's little brain
This little moon in the sky upset my head with a brain
I saw it yippee, I did, I swear
Walking through the hallway
Crawling up the stairs
Abebe baby baby baby Bekila
Given up on whisky
Taken up with tequila
I'm on my own in my blind alley
I turn myself around
So it's swallowing me
Watch the guitar
Watch the guitar
Groovy groovy people
We're all groovy groovy people
Groovy groovy people
We're all groovy groovy people
Groovy groovy people
Groovy groovy people
I wonder why
____________
____________
____________
Me and the wall
We're okay, we're okay
F-F-Faustus you've got nothing to fear
It may be hell down there
'Cause it's heaven up here
I'd have given forever for a few good years
But too much of a muchness is to much you hear
The hammer on my chest was an abominable pain
the anvil on my belly was an abdominal strain
We've got the bottle
Go take the bottle
Go take a sip
07 The Disease (02:27)
My life's the disease
That could always change
With comparative ease
Just given the chance
My life is the earth
'Twixt muscle and spade
I wait for the worth
Digging for just one chance
As prospects diminish
As nightmares swell
Some pray for heaven
While we live in hell
My life's the disease
My life's the disease
If you get yours from heaven
Don't waste them
If you get yours from heaven
Don't waste them
If you get yours from heaven
08 All My Colours (04:06)
Flying
And you know I'm not coming down
You're trying
But you know you must soon go down
All my colours
Turn to clouds
All my colours
Turn to cloud
Zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo
Zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo
Zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo
Zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo
What d'you say
When your heart's in pieces
How to play
Those cards in sequence
That box you gave me
Burned nicely
That box you gave me
Burned nicely
Zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo
Zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo
Zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo
Zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo zimbo
Flying down
Flying down
All my colours
Turn to clouds
All my colours
Turn to cloud
Hey I'm flowing
Hey I'm flowing
That box you gave me
Burned nicely
That box you gave me
Burned nicely
Hey I've flown away
Hey I've flown away
All my colours
09 No Dark Things (04:27)
My life picks
My hands clean
No head shaved
It's quite safe
Compromise discovery
It's just and it's only
I took the pill
All you missed
Constued all
The tactics
You must learn
To dintinguish error from your fate
They don't think it's funny
That he's beginning to accept the facts
To the middle of the floor
You walked over
In the middle of the wall
The picture still hanging
From the corner of my eye
You stick pins in
In the middle of the floor
I fell over
We have no dark things
Nothing to hide of that
Just some heads and a wish
Something to sing about
We have no dark things
Nothing to hide of that
Just some heads and a wish
Something to shout about
We have no dark things
Nothing to hide of that
Just some heads and a wish
Something to sing about
No dark things
No dark things
No dark things
No dark things
No dark things
No dark things
No dark things
No dark things
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